Leadership

Geary Higgins has intentionally “sat on” the Route 15 Safety and Operations Study since it was finalized back in April. He directed the Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure to NOT release the report until July 18th Board Meeting – which is coincidentally timed for AFTER the state senate primary on June 11th.

Supervisor Higgins is comfortable with “blood on his hands” by not releasing this report ASAP so that the Board of Supervisors could have taken decisive action to FIX Route 15 Now!What are your thoughts (as you sit in Route 15 traffic this Memorial Day weekend)? Does Geary Higgins deserve your vote in the June 11th state senate primary?

*** The Route 15 Safety and Operations Study was provided to Fix Route 15 Now via a FOIA request by a concerned citizen. Here is the report dated April 12, 2019.

Supervisor Higgins has swallowed the bait – hook, line and sinker! And the good supervisor washed it all down with the “Special Interest No Growther” Kool-Aid! Higgins believes that the Point of Rocks Bridge is owned by Maryland BECAUSE the “Special Interest No Growthers” have pedaled this false narrative so long that everyone just believed it to be the truth! But alas, once the average citizen takes a closer look at their deceitful story (and also the length of their noses), it becomes apparent that they have LIED YET AGAIN!

The Point of Rocks Bridge is jointly owned by Maryland and Virginia! Just take a look at the joint agreement signed July 22, 1929 that is in a separate post.

So that means that both the State of Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia can seek federal highway funds to improve Route 15 AND the Point of Rocks Bridge. It is a shame that Supervisor Higgins did not do his homework to validate the many false narratives put forward by the “Special Interest No Growthers”.

Word has leaked out about the Route 15 Safety and Operations Study. The conclusion is that there will not be any widening of Route 15 north of Montresor Road up to the Point of Rocks Bridge. This is over the objections of more than 80% of the survey respondents who stated 4-lane widening with shoulders plus a center-line median strip to prevent head-on collisions was their top priority and choice.

Right before Supervisor Geary Higgins cancelled the Route 15 Stakeholder Committee, and at it’s last meeting on October 22, 2018, a question was asked of Higgins by one of the stakeholder representatives: “at what point does safety take priority? We all like our rural land and development opportunities, but at what level is safety prioritized?”

Higgins response was, “safety is the top priority, followed by congestion mitigation. The county is also trying to apply both safety and congestion relief in a context sensitive manner. They may not be in direct conflict but need to be coordinated.”

Knowingly allowing the special interest “no growthers” to meet with County staff with their plan and design to plant over 600 plant trees, which are intended to block the Route 15 widening, shoulders and medians between Montresor Road up to the Point of Rocks Bridge is unconscionable and feckless leadership!

Supervisor Geary M. Higgins should resign immediately for malfeasance and so should any other supervisor who knowingly allowed this tree planting plan and design to quietly go forward and be approved by the County staff!

Why is
Supervisor Higgins sitting on the Safety and Operations Study north of
Montresor Road?

Answer – Geary Higgins never cared about the safety of Lucketts residents (or anyone else in the northern corridor) and does not want to see anything improved beyond Montresor Road which won’t happen for 10 years!

Here are the
facts:

Supervisor Higgins CANCELLED the Route 15 Stakeholder Committee last October BEFORE the final Route 15 Safety and Operations Study was completed.

Supervisor Higgins FAILED to show up for the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) public hearing on May 10, 2018 to ask for funding safety improvements along Route 15. NVTA DID award Loudoun County $54M which IS at RISK because there is still NO project plan after almost a year of funding just sitting there un-used!

Supervisor Higgins FAILED to show up for the VDOT SmartScale public hearing on November 28, 2018 to support the $110M for funding requested for safety improvements along Route 15. VDOT ultimately denied Loudoun this funding which NOW means Loudoun residents will have to fund the improvements north of Montresor Road up to Point of Rocks Bridge with COUNTY funds and NOT Virginia State funds.

Supervisor Higgins FAILED to push staff for a project plan even though the full funding of $79M to widen Route 15 has been in place since July 1, 2018.

Supervisor Higgins has FAILED to challenge the 10-year timeline to widen 3.5 miles of Route 15 between Battlefield Parkway and Montresor Road.

Supervisor Higgins has INSISTED on “roundabouts” when study after study has shown that “roundabouts” FAIL on roads with high volumes of one-way directional traffic similar to Route 15.

Supervisor Higgins also FAILED to make Route 15 widening and safety improvements a PRIORITY in the FY 2020 Adopted Budget earlier this month even after the VDOT SmartScale funding of $110M was denied by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) in January.

Supervisor Kristen Umstattd has gone on record stating that Route 15 must be widened up to the Point of Rocks Bridge because of the need for safety improvements and congestion relief.

Supervisor Ron Meyer has gone on record stating that Route 15 must be widened up to the Point of Rocks Bridge because of the volume of traffic and the many accidents and loss of life on this road.

Supervisor Matt Letourneau has gone on record stating Route 15 is suffering from ‘paralysis by analysis’ and needs to be widened asap and not studied further.

Vice Chairman Ralph Buona has stated safety of our citizens is THE number one priority of any board member and NOTHING else matters and therefore we need to move forward on the safety improvements and congestion relief for Route 15!

Perhaps Geary Higgins is more interested in running his campaign for the Virginia State Senate than providing the project plan and driving an accelerated timeline to widen Route 15 up to Montresor Road or worrying about the rest of the Catoctin District north of Montresor Road and issuing the Safety and Operations Study.

Why don’t you email and ask Geary yourself at geary.higgins@loudoun.gov why there is STILL no project plan and why it will take 10 years to widen 3.5 miles of Route 15? Maybe he won’t respond to your questions at all…..

The above FACTS represent SHAMEFUL, FECKLESS Leadership!

Fix Route 15 Now!

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